Andrie Yunus Writes Letter, Urges Civil Coalition to Push for TGPF Formation

Deputy Coordinator of the External Affairs Division of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Andrie Yunus, has written a letter containing a message to civil society urging them to push for the formation of a Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF) for the acid attack case.

The letter, dated 3 and 5 April 2026, was read by the National Solidarity for Andrie Yunus, comprising several national figures, at the KontraS office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday (7/4).

In the letter, Andrie stated that the acid attack by members of the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) Detachment of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) was an attempted murder against him.

He said that the terror was not merely an attack on him alone, but aimed at creating a politics of fear for civil movements resisting oppression and rejecting militarism.

“Therefore, I ask my comrades to push for an independent Joint Fact-Finding Team involving many elements,” Andrie wrote in the letter.

“It is hoped that the independent TGPF’s findings will trace the actors, not stopping at the field perpetrators, but also including intellectual actors, to then be held accountable through general courts,” he continued.

Andrie emphasised that uncovering the acid attack case is the state’s responsibility through its legal apparatus.

Andrie objected and expressed a vote of no confidence if the law enforcement process is conducted through military courts, which have long been nests of impunity for soldiers committing human rights violations.

“Currently, KontraS together with the civil society coalition for security sector reform is filing a material judicial review lawsuit against the TNI Law. Our pressure point in this lawsuit is to ensure that the expansion of military influence in civilian, political, and economic life must be stopped,” Andrie wrote.

“From the beginning, the revision of Law 3/2025 has breached all that, including betraying MPR Decrees 6 and 7 of 2000 and the Constitution. The expansion of the military’s role in civilian life will only give birth to violence and create fear among civilians,” he added.

On this day, at the KontraS office, several national figures consisting of Sukidi, Karlina Supeli, Busyro Muqoddas, Halida Hatta, Pastor Jacky Manuputty, Zumrotin Susilo, Marzuki Darusman, to Lukman Hakim Saifuddin read a national message regarding the acid attack case on Andrie Yunus.

They stated that Andrie is the face of Indonesia’s new generation born in the era of freedom and raised in digital democracy.

Andrie, like hundreds of thousands of Indonesian youth, grew up in a Republic that claims to be heading towards the Golden Indonesia, yet became a victim of violence perpetrated by the TNI.

They view Andrie as a manifestation of the aspirations for the independence of the Indonesian people as hoped by Mohammad Hatta. Generations like Andrie grew up with the awareness that loving the homeland does not mean being silent on injustice, but daring to voice it even though the risks of violence and terror continue to lurk.

“The attack on Andrie is an attack on all of us. This attack shows systemic indications of the state’s culture of violence against criticism, accountability, and public correction,” they said.

Andrie Yunus was doused with acid about three weeks ago after giving a podcast at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) office titled “Remilitarisation & Judicial Review of the TNI Law”.

The police once announced the initials of two suspects, but at the same time, the TNI also stated that they had detained four people from TNI BAIS as the field perpetrators of the acid attack on Andrie. They are NDP, SL, BHW, and ES.

Meanwhile, the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), consisting of several civil society organisations, stated that the field perpetrators of the acid attack on Andrie involved at least 16 people. TAUD described this as an intelligence operation.

Without a legal basis and clear reasons, the police stated that they had handed over the case handling to the TNI Military Police Centre (POM).